The week can be quite unpredictable. Between 60 and 70% of my cases are admitted as emergencies, and the rest is scheduled surgery, but I don't really like routine, so this keeps me on my toes.

I've been operating for 20 years, and I've been a consultant for nine, so I don't get nervous before operations any more. I sometimes get anxious about high-risk cases, but I cope by making sure I've given myself enough time and I'm not stressed about anything that's going on outside the operating theatre. I have to be a safe, knowledgeable pair of hands, because the patients I'm treating are, understandably, stressed and scared.

Monday mornings tend to be put aside for paediatric surgery, then in the afternoon I'll see patients to diagnose illnesses, and assess whether surgery is something that will help. I do surgery on the brain to remove tumours, but I also do a lot of spinal surgery to treat back and neck pain, so my work runs from the very urgent life-threatening illnesses, to treating chronic conditions.

Tuesday is an operating day. I start about 8am, and finish at 6pm. Occasionally, that whole 10-hour window will be taken up with one operation (if I'm getting so hungry or thirsty and I feel that it's affecting my concentration, I'll scrub down and pop out of the operating theatre for a cup of tea or a sandwich, before getting back to it). This week, I did much shorter ones – a woman with breast cancer had a spinal metastasis [when cancer cells can travel to other parts of the body from the primary tumour], and had a tumour that was pressing on her spine. I also operated on a day-old baby who had a build-up of fluid on the brain – we already knew about this from the antenatal scans.

I see private patients on Wednesdays, and on Thursdays, I'm back at Addenbrooke's. I did an operation on a woman with a spinal infection, which took about five hours. Her spine had crumbled, and her chin was touching her neck – she couldn't hold her head up. I had to put her in traction, where she will remain while we treat the infection. Then, at a later date, we will build the spine up with bone graft and metalwork.

Friday is office day, where I catch up on paperwork, and look after the postgraduate education of around 100 junior doctors. Most days, though, I finish by half past six, and I don't think about work constantly; I have three children, five cats, two dogs and 10 chickens.